Archive for the ‘House’ Category

Common Ground is the result of an experiment of revitalising unused land in the middle of the city. By applying prefab methods, e.g. producing modules in a factory, transporting them to the construction site and assembling them on-site, it was possible to reduce the construction time of the 5300 m2 building to five months.

In order to maximise the usage efficiency of the elongated rectangular shaped land, the architectural form is based on a center square connecting two buildings.

The Oak Pass Main House sits atop a 3.5-acre ridge site with panoramic canyon views. The property’s topography and landscape, which most notably include over 130 protected Coast Live Oak Trees, were the primary drivers for the house’s design. In order to showcase and amplify the site’s inherent beauty, the house’s mass is buried into the hillside, with only a one-story pavilion above grade as it unfolds along the ridge.

The building is located in the city of Porto Alegre. The traditional neighborhood is going through a transition process – the old houses are given way to small and medium sized buildings. The site is located on a corner with a very interesting view of the city and the airport. However, being at a high altitude level, it is strongly influenced by the municipality laws.

The terrain of 1347 square meters located in the city of Cajamar is inserted in one of the regions of greater natural diversity of the state of São Paulo, the region of the Japi mountain range.

The surrounding Atlantic Forest reveals an enormous natural complexity with the abundance of species, forms and colors, exposing a system in balance and very delicate. Thus, the conceptual motivation of the project was to represent this stability through the balanced composition of two blocks with divergent directions, colors and textures, but with identical formats.

The skinnySCAR project of architect couple Gwendolyn Huisman and Marijn Boterman shows how forgotten empty spaces in the city can be used. Each city has neglected spaces like this, that are unused and underrated. These gaps can be upgraded to complete the urban fabric, while giving it a boost and creating possibilities for new forms of urban living for the adventurous ones. As young designers, Gwendolyn and Marijn are not limited by design traditions and conventions, and they saw the potential and challenge of a narrow gap with extreme proportions in an old Rotterdam neighborhood. In 2012 the process to convince the landowners to sell the narrow plot started, so they could develop it into their own home. After a short construction period of only 4 months in 2015/2016, the contractor left them an unfinished structure. They’ve been finishing the entire interior themselves since then and their design ideas are becoming manifest.

The defining concept for this house, commissioned by a photographer as both his summer house and studio, was based on developed facade studies which define a simple and smooth building skin varied in height and punctured by openings.

Two volumes define the main living & work spaces, both converge to the North corner freeing up as much space as possible on this small lot and turning all window openings to face South and West. The main space is compressed at the entry and releases up towards the landscape, the fan shaped plan gradually provides more floor area, volume and light. The second volume is exclusively dedicated to the owner’s studio. All rooms and bathrooms are reduced to a bare minimum and provide maximum surface area to living and work spaces.

On a tree-lined street in Marly-le-Roi a small community very close to Paris where high fences traditionally isolate each house and its garden, there is a house which reaches out to its neighbors creating a feeling of urbanity previously lacking on these parts. Because urban policy does not allow one house to open up to another to achieve the openness effect, this house is moved forward its parcel to open widely onto the street. A perforated galvanized-steel fence allows the passers-by to look in at the garden, which actually runs under the house that seems to levitate on its plot. It is also an invitation to enter: the access is made from this underground level beneath the actual house, where the firewood is stored and the car parked. The layout of the ground floor is characterized by the fluidity of its three spaces, which are organized around the central fireplace, which alone endures the entire heating of this passive house. The kitchen and an intimate living room are located on either side of the carved staircase of a single piece of prefabricated steel, while two steps higher a living room crossing opens onto a vast terrace with a cantilever onto the street. This house blurs the boundaries between private and public to the benefit of user-friendly rooms that also open onto the outside.

The primary challenge was to retain an existing house on the site and build a complete new structure over it while retaining the basic functionality of the original structure. The new building was designed on a completely distinct set of circular columns which were placed strategically to avoid the existing walls and foundations. The new structure, aligned at an angle, floats over the lower structure. Roof of the existing structure was demolished and the space between the new and old structure was sealed with continuous frameless glass panes, maintaining the individuality of the two structures. The old structure was stripped off its plaster and the original large laterite stones revealed.

Markhouse is located in the area which has recently become home for a peculiar sort of micro-community made of people united by friendly or family relationships. what is more, they have organized a number of places for common use here, such as a lounge-club, a parking lot and paths between the plots.